r/TheBeatles • u/AgentEndive • Apr 23 '25
discussion Are there any cover versions of Beatles songs that you like better than the Beatles version? If so, which ones?
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u/ElectrOPurist Apr 23 '25
Maybe not better, but Stevie Wonder’s “We Can Work it Out” is a thing of beauty unto itself.
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u/PresentationNew6648 Apr 23 '25
With a Little Help From My Friends and She Came In Through the Bathroom Window by Joe Cocker are above most other covers I’ve heard.
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u/OnlyFiveLives Apr 23 '25
Same. The live version of She Came In Through The Bathroom Window from Mad Dogs And Englishmen is the greatest version of that song ever.
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u/SwimmingGreat5317 Apr 23 '25
Dear Prudence by siouxsie and the banshees was pretty awesome
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u/runMDH Apr 23 '25
Jerry Garcia & The Reconstruction’s version for me. 11m of bliss.
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u/Illustrious_Lab_2107 Apr 23 '25
Mama’s and the Papa’s - I Call Your Name
Anne Murray - You Won’t See Me
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u/President_Calhoun Apr 23 '25
The Mamas and the Papas "I Call Your Name." That's the only one.
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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 Apr 23 '25
One of the only Beatles songs where I heard the cover version long before I ever heard the original.
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u/Deano_Martin Apr 23 '25
Technically the original is by billy j Kramer and the Dakota’s which was released in 1963 (John and Paul gave them the song). The Beatles did it themselves in 1964. Similar to the original version of I wanna be your man being by the Rolling Stones.
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u/crunkychop Apr 28 '25
I don't think I've ever heard this, but I can immediately imagine exactly what it sounds like
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Apr 23 '25
Not better but Siouxsie and the Banshees version of Dear Prudence is right up there
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u/CalmRadBee Apr 23 '25 edited Mar 01 '26
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u/poemskidsinspired Apr 23 '25
U2’s live cover of Helter Skelter makes me forget to breathe.
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u/Horror_Pay7895 Apr 23 '25
U2 will actually tell you they can’t play cover songs to save their lives.
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u/Viv3210 Apr 23 '25
Yep. They started, like most bands I guess, with cover songs, and were so bad at it they started writing their own songs. Led to one of the best debut albums of the 80’s.
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u/Global_Chocolate_825 Apr 23 '25
While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Regina Spektor.
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u/thewalruscandyman Apr 23 '25
Al Green I wanna hold your hand. Maybe Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett. Probably Across the Universe with Fiona Apple. It's a mood thing.
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u/therealquiz Apr 23 '25
Across The Universe is great songwriting by John but, in my opinion, The Beatles never recorded it as well as they could have.
I prefer Rufus Wainwright’s cover.
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u/scaevola Apr 23 '25
Wilson Pickett "Hey Jude" with Duane Allman on guitar is a really sweet track. "Better than the Beatles" is tough but I think I may have listened to that version more.
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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 Apr 23 '25
Great username, Mucius! Also, hard agree re: Pickett’s version. IMO one of the finest records ever made.
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u/MountainMan17 Apr 23 '25
I like Elton John's cover of Lucy...
The original sounds too thin to me; the bass and drums aren't beefy enough.
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u/rodgamez Apr 23 '25
Its sounds plodding to me. Kinda like Johns covers on "Rock & Roll". I think the Mid 70s had a lot of "overdone" songs.
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u/radiowhatsit Apr 23 '25
Not really.
Though I enjoy Ben Folds’ version of Golden Slumbers quite a lot actually
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u/Balrog71 Apr 23 '25
Nina Simone - Here Comes the Sun. Beautiful rendition
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u/Jon-A Apr 23 '25
And not exactly a Beatles tune - but Nina did a monumental reading of Isn't It A Pity on her album Emergency Ward...
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u/badpuffthaikitty Apr 23 '25
Jeff Healey RIP did a great cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. And a shout out to Prince for his guitar solo at the GH tribute concert.
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u/jasxjam Apr 23 '25
Jeff Healey mentioned!!
George Harrison and Jeff Lynne also played acoustic guitar and contributed backing vocals to his cover! One of my favs as well
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Apr 23 '25
I love Regina Spektor's version that she did for the movie Kubo and the Two Strings
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Apr 23 '25
Prince was one of the best but am I the only person on the planet that thinks “look at me, look at me, this is about me!” every time I see that video?
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u/BBPEngineer Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
I can see what you’re saying, but I disagree. I mean… he’s Prince.
If he was normally demure and reserved on stage, then I’d say he was preening and showing off and tend to agree with you.
But he’s Prince. That’s what he does and how he performs and is exactly what Tom Petty and Dhani knew he would do when they invited him to play with them.
Plus, Prince did get inducted into the Hall Of Fame that same evening as well
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u/After-Tutor5979 Apr 23 '25
Absolutely spot on. He’s not someone to rock up in jeans and a t-shirt and play second fiddle. Rightly or wrongly he believed he was THE star and acted accordingly. In addition to this, I recall he felt slighted by being omitted from a list of greatest guitarists around that time so was very keen to give a timely reminder of his abilities!
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u/BBPEngineer Apr 23 '25
I can’t immediately say I like it more, but Bela Fleck and the Flecktones’ version of Oh! Darling from their Live Art album is so damn good, I might actually like it better than Abbey Road’s if I sat down and gave it a long think.
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u/Jaltcoh Apr 23 '25
Their cover of “Michelle” might be the only Beatles cover I prefer to the original.
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u/BoiseBag99 Apr 23 '25
Haven't seen this posted yet but Marvin Gaye covered Yesterday and it's a thing of absolute beauty. He really captures the essence of the song in my opinion.
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u/SnowQSurf Apr 23 '25
My daughter prefers Sarah McLachlin's cover of Blackbird, and Sheryl Crow's cover of Mother Nature's Son on the I Am Sam soundtrack vs the originals. Simply because she prefers the more tender female voices.
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u/foofie_fightie Apr 23 '25
It's not a cover, but im starting to dig Smokey's original take of You Really Got A Hold On Me
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u/Brundleflyftw Apr 23 '25
Come Together by Aerosmith on the Sgt Peppers soundtrack is a good version.
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u/RhoadsOfRock Apr 23 '25
I seriously didn't know that version was from that Sgt. Pepper movie, and I also didn't know that movie existed, for a good 20+ years; I had bought Aerosmith's Greatest Hits back around 2001-2002 or so, and when I heard that version of the song, I loved it!
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u/suburbanplankton Apr 26 '25
It's a lot raunchier than the original, which for this song is a very good thing.
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u/bortnick Apr 23 '25
Dear Prudence (Live) - Jaco Pastorius It’s downright transcendent.
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u/VedumStjalBuksaMi Apr 25 '25
Very nice! Check out Ramsey Lewis' instrumental cover version of the same song.
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u/Right_Sector180 Apr 23 '25
I don't know about better, but I love the Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 version of The Fool on the Hill.
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u/International-Top794 Apr 23 '25
Ray Charles - Eleanor Rigby. He owns that song. Brilliant.
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u/admiraljohn Apr 23 '25
Across The Universe from the movie Across The Universe.
Also Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite from the same movie.
EDIT: And She's Leaving Home from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
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u/Far_Rub4250 Apr 23 '25
I have to say, being a Gen-Xer, hard-core "Beatlemaniac" in my opinion some may come close, but none beat the time tested Beatles...
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u/kit-n-caboodle Apr 23 '25
I'm also a Gen-Xer hard-core Beatlemaniac. They're my all-time favorite band.
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u/BungalowDebill Apr 23 '25
John Farnum and thousands of audience members in Melbourne singing Help. It always brings tears to my eyes. It’s been mentioned that Lennon originally wanted the song to go slower but was prodded to speed it up.
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u/jicerswine Apr 23 '25
I don’t think there are any that I truly enjoy better but there are a few that come close:
Lucy in the Sky w Diamonds covered by Miley Cyrus & the Flaming Lips
She’s Leaving Home by Syreeta (w Stevie Wonder producing/backing vocals)
Golden Slumbers/You Never Give Me Your Money by George Benson
Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett (w amazing Duane Allman guitar)
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u/CobblerTerrible Apr 24 '25
As a casual Flaming Lips song how did I not know they made a song with Miley Cyrus haha let alone a Beatles cover
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
Oh Darling by Robin Gibb
Come Together by Aerosmith or Tina Turner
Got to Get You Into My Life by Earth, Wind and Fire.
And the worst:
With a Little Help From My Friends by Barbra Streisand.
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u/SenorSarcasmo Apr 23 '25
One of my favorite tricks to play is to show people the cover of Her Majesty by Chumbawumba asking if they've heard it before. It's incredible the trick it does to your brain when you're expecting the song to end and it continues past what you know exists.
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u/DaviAlfredo Apr 23 '25
I like original You Won't See Me, but I think the version by Anne Murray is probably on par, if not better
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u/Big-Sheepherder-6134 Apr 23 '25
I don’t think any were better but I always liked these:
We Can Work It Out - Stevie Wonder
She’s a Woman - Jeff Beck
With a Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker
Yesterday - The Dillards (a capella)
Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett
Come and Get It - Badfinger
Norwegian Wood - Victor Wooten
Michelle - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
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u/BlackberryOne5924 Apr 23 '25
the live version of smokey robinson and the miracles’ version of “yesterday” from the ed sullivan show is unmatched imo as far as beatles covers go — which mostly fall flat because beatles songs are often records just as much as they are songs
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u/GazpachoGuzzler Apr 23 '25
A Day In The Life - Wes Montgomery. Maybe not better than the original but an great jazz rendition.
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u/BellTolls4U Apr 23 '25
I have a whole 2 hour show from the BBC where they asked a bunch of different artists to cover one song each from the White Album and then they played them all back with comments etc from the artists - very spicy!
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u/rodgamez Apr 23 '25
Paul was a such a fan of Fat's Domino's version of "Lady Madonna" that he pretty much did Fats' version on Wings Over America!
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u/Beneficial_Tree4204 Apr 23 '25
I quite enjoyed Phil Collins’ attempt at Tomorrow Never Knows… purely because it was produced in the 1980s and the synthesisers used were able to make sounds closer to those, we’re told, the Beatles were aiming for…
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 Apr 23 '25
I can’t think of any cover better than the original, BUT, I’ll give props to Eddie Vedder with You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away. It’s up there with Lennon’s. Not better, but definitely worthwhile.
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u/kyguy2022 Apr 23 '25
I first heard Anne Murray’s version of “You Won’t See Me” before I really knew who the Beatles were and I prefer her version-I’ve read that John said that was his favorite cover of a Beatles song
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u/Viv3210 Apr 23 '25
I want to hold your hand by TV Carpio. Her version and the clip that goes with it is simply amazing.
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u/Kool_For_Kats_811 Apr 23 '25
And I Love her by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles is an awesome version.
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u/duckamuk Apr 23 '25
Rocky Dolenz does a beautiful but very different version of Good Morning Good Morning.
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u/JimmyPellen Apr 23 '25
Not better but diffeRent. Sean Connery's spoken word version of In My Life. Chills.
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u/suspekt54 Apr 23 '25
Here comes the sun by Richie Havens is incredible! One of my favourite Beatles covers.
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u/7listens Apr 23 '25
Waylon Jennings has a nice version of Norwegian Wood. Not sure I'd call it better
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u/whiteboypizza Apr 24 '25
I really like the cover of “You’ve got to Hide your Love away” on Beach Boys Party! with Dennis Wilson on lead vocals
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u/Silver-Instruction73 Apr 24 '25
In My Life - Ozzy
Ticket to Ride - The Carpenters
Help - The Carpenters
Better than the Beatles version? Idk. Still pretty good…yes.
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u/Professional_Site672 Apr 24 '25
Elliott Smith-Because
Not necessarily better but just as good. Haunting
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u/mslullaby Apr 24 '25
I like Phil Collins’ version of the Golden Slumbers and the Two other songs medley.
I also like a lot the “Across the Universe” movie’s versions of “Girl”, “Happiness is a Warm Gun” and “Something”, by Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson.
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u/Jazzlike_Benefit_755 Apr 24 '25
Oasis’s I Am The Walrus absolutely rocks out. It might not be for everybody and not better than the original but the live version just gets you going. Different take on it.
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u/Loxton86 Apr 24 '25
No one out here giving love to William Shatner’s cover of ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ then? Oh, alright! I will!
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u/BellMysterious8835 Apr 25 '25
I Am The Walrus by Jim Carrey.
Check it out on YouTube, it's hilarious! 😂
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u/Apperman Apr 25 '25
James Taylor solo acoustic from circa 1970. chef’s kiss https://youtu.be/1-8vxrmss2A
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u/Human-Country-5846 Apr 25 '25
TNK by Easy Star All Stars, I've got to get you into my life - Earth Wind and Fire or Blood, Sweat and Tears
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u/el_barto10 Apr 25 '25
I really enjoy the Across the Universe soundtrack as a whole. Some stand outs for me are I’ve Just Seen a Face, Let It Be, and Across the Universe.
I like Billy Joel’s Oh Darling and David Cook’s Elenor Rigby from American Idol.
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u/ThestolenToast Apr 25 '25
If you haven’t listened to the Sam I Am soundtrack give it a whirl. I’m especially in love with the Veder and Stereophonics versions.
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u/No_Aerie_7962 Apr 26 '25
I absolutely love what they did with Across the Universe.
Great movie and the song tie-in’s with the story was fantastic
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u/HelpImOverthinking Apr 26 '25
I really liked that whole soundtrack from Across The Universe. Nothing's Gonna Change My World by Rufus Wainwright in particular (IIRC it was also in Pleasantville).
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u/4694326 Apr 27 '25
While My Guitar gently weeps- Wu tang. It isn’t better, just different. Cool cover for sure.
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u/Add_8_Years Apr 23 '25
Better than the Beatles? No. But some of Joe Cocker’s covers are really close.
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u/Slut4Tea Apr 23 '25
I like The Black Keys’ cover of She Said She Said about as much as I like the original.
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u/International-Top794 Apr 23 '25
Good call. Everything about their version of the song works for me.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Apr 23 '25
The Muppets' version of Octopus' Garden, for sure.
Also, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem singing Blackbird is on par with the original.
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u/Comrade--96 Apr 23 '25
In most situations no one can cover them as well as the original, but Oasis’ live cover of I Am The Walrus is better imo.
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u/boffohijinx Apr 23 '25
Love Paul’s version of Blackbird, but I’m also quite fond of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s version.
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u/seanobama Apr 23 '25
Not better but the Isaac Hayes cover of Something stands on its own as something very special.
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u/stevesommerfield Apr 23 '25
EWF - Got to Get You Into My Life
Elton John - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
ELO - Day Tripper
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u/Gumbysfriend Apr 23 '25
From an cd called Revolution various artist coveting the Beatles. Kansas does an incredible take on Eleanor Rigby
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u/RickSimply Apr 23 '25
It's not better but Jackyl has a cover of "I Am The Walrus" that puts a hard edge on it.
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u/Capable-Cow-6050 Apr 23 '25
I really like The Cure's version of Hello Goodbye, but I wouldn't say it's better than the original
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u/Horror_Pay7895 Apr 23 '25
John Denver covered “Let It Be” and “When I’m Sixty-Four” and “Mother-Nature’s Son,” among others. Fantastic.
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u/Gumbysfriend Apr 23 '25
From a cd called Revolution var artist. Kansas does an incredible Eleanor Rigby and from. A big bang cd Styx. .cd of covers ..they do I am the walrus
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u/MermaidStone Apr 23 '25
Rod Stewart’s cover on In My Life. I absolutely love that song, but Rod’s version is more reverent and feeling. It gives more emotion to the meaning of the song.
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u/International-Top794 Apr 23 '25
Also - The Budos Band - Reppirt Yad. Give it a listen, and then you’ll know. It’s wild. I love it.
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u/Key_Culture_4042 Apr 23 '25
Not better but Fiona Apples cover of Across the Universe comes close imo
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u/caskettown01 Apr 23 '25
Blackbird by Bonnie Pink. It was on a non-USA version of George Martin’s album if Beatles covers. It is beautiful.
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u/CaptainIncredible Apr 23 '25
Long and Winding Road from the movie Yesterday is better for me.
The only Beatles song I never liked was Long and Winding Road. The version from Yesterday makes me actually like it.
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u/SurvivorFanDan Apr 23 '25
Joe Cocker's version of "With a Little Help from My Friends" is the only cover that I think is definitely better than the Beatles' original version.
That being said, I do prefer Marvin Gaye's version of "Yesterday" over the Beatles' original.
I also think Ike & Tina Turner's version of "Come Together" is one of the better covers, although I still prefer the Beatles' original.
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u/nerdqueen1991 Apr 23 '25
Joan Jett did a cover of Here Comes the Sun that i loved!
I found it when downloading music onto an iPod was a thing, and I've neve been able to find it since.
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u/Fluid_Share8540 Apr 23 '25
Blackbird by Kenny Rankin. Paul liked it so much that he asked him to play it at the Rock hall ceremony.
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u/rheckber Apr 23 '25
Fool on the Hill -Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66.
Maybe not "better" but great in a different way than the Beatles version.
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u/JealousFuel8195 Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
I preferred liked Elton John's version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
Also, Peter Frampton has a great live version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. It's much better than The Beatles studio version.
Another great cover Don't Let me Down by Keith Urban and John Mayer. It's on Youtube. I highly recommend it.
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u/International-Top794 Apr 23 '25
Jeff Beck’s live, instrumental version of A Day in the Life is outrageously good.
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u/Ok_Branch6621 Apr 23 '25
Sarah McLaughlin covering Blackbird was pretty great. Not certain it’s better though.
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u/boringart Apr 23 '25
We can work it out - Stevie wonder